chakra

What it means

1. HinduismAyurvedaAny of (at least) seven centres of spiritual energy in or near the body, according to Ayurveda philosophy.

   [Pathik (Brian George):] In order to master the Avatar state, you must open all the chakras. Aang, tell me everything you know about chakras. [Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen):] What are chakras?

   2006 December 1, Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, “The Guru” (7:03 from the start), in Giancarlo Volpe, director, Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 2 (Book Two: Earth), episode 19, spoken by Pathik and Aang (Brian George and Zach Tyler Eisen)

   1 more example

   In the etheric body of a yogini in meditation, the polarity is, therefore, not between the brain and the genitals, the second and sixth chakras, but between the inner sexuality of the womb and the heart.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 19

2. Synonym of hackery.

   ...bahlis, chakras, bullock-carts, dolis, tattus, palkis, miyanas, kharkharinas, bajras and chaupalas, were the common vehicles.

   1911, Calendar of Persian Correspondence..., page xxvi

   Synonyms: hackery

In a sentence

In the etheric body of a yogini in meditation, the polarity is, therefore, not between the brain and the genitals, the second and sixth chakras, but between the inner sexuality of the womb and the heart.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 19

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-redup.
2. Proto-Indo-European*kʷékʷlos
3. Proto-Indo-Iranian*čakrám
4. Proto-Indo-Aryan*ćakrám
5. Sanskritचक्र (cakra)
6. Hindiचक्र (cakra)
7. Sanskritचक्र (cakra)
8. Englishchakra

From Hindi चक्र (cakra) and directly from Sanskrit चक्र (cakra, “wheel, disc, cycle”). As a synonym for hackery, either a correction or hypercorrection of that term based on one of its proposed etymologies. Doublet of chakram, charkha, chukker, cycle, cyclus, kike, and wheel.